Having survived the unberable horrors of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ, I find myself once again wondering what the heck all this Christian crucifiction is all about. Why would God create a son to be destroyed mercilessly by a bunch of ignorrant people to take away our sins? I don’t get it. I can agree that he went through hell on Earth, but why does his suffering have anything to do with me, this guy in the 20th century living in Edmonton, Canada? Have I done anything that bad that God has to create this unbelievably horrific scene to recitify the situation? I noticed while typing the word “crucifiction” that the word “fiction” is its ending. Is the crucifiction fiction? I remember my studies of mythology and the many similar stories of death and rebirth in Greek mythology.

Another issue with the Mel Gibson movie is the relatively obvious anti-Semitic posturing regarding the Pharisees. Gibson, and / or the writer, seem to include several creative flourishes in the movie. Wasn’t he arrested for DUI and then noted making insane anti-Semitic remarks. I guess he equates anti-Semitism as a crucial aspect of devout Christianity. Well, at this point I wish I had never seen Gibson’s movie, I believe that witnessing violence in media is close to as bad as seeing it for real. Buddhism seems so much more sensible.

Well, I guess that my Buddhist sensibilities are knocking at the door to my mind. Buddha died a peaceful death between two trees before achieving Nirvana. Christ was tortured, ridiculed, crucified, in a way, absorbed our sins. On symbols alone, Buddhism seems much more attractive to me. Well, that’s my contribution to Easter, I suppose.